McDowell Posternock Apell & Detrick, PC

At McDowell Posternock Apell & Detrick, PC, we are committed to providing clients with exceptional legal representation. Our firm has extensive experience in bankruptcy, family law and consumer fraud cases.

Firm Overview

Most of the lawyers at McDowell Posternock Apell & Detrick, PC are licensed to practice in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania courts, and some are licensed in other states as well. Our firms attorneys are highly experienced in litigation and use their extensive trial experience to protect our clients best interests. If you are looking for reliant, efficient and knowledgeable attorneys, contact us to schedule an appointment.

Respected. Resourceful. Resolved.

Since 1996, the attorneys at McDowell Posternock Apell & Detrick, PC have provided New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents with experienced legal representation in bankruptcy matters, family law and consumer fraud cases. Contact our law offices if you require representation in these matters. We have a collective experience of more than 120 years, and we use this to advocate our clients rights in the following areas:

~Bankruptcy - We assist clients with significant debts who face foreclosure, lawsuits, repossession and wage garnishment. We help our clients file for the appropriate bankruptcy petition that their situations require, such as:

~Chapter 7 bankruptcy: A petition to liquidate assets to pay off debts. Most debts are discharged after liquidation.

~Chapter 11 bankruptcy: Allows insolvent businesses to stay operational. Businesses eventually pay off creditors using future earnings and other means.

~Chapter 13 bankruptcy: Lets debtors keep certain assets while working to pay off their debts using a repayment plan that lasts from 3-5 years. Some debts that arent fully paid at the end of the payment period may then be discharged.

~Family Law - We assist clients who are looking to initiate divorce proceedings, as well as clients who have been served with divorce papers. We handle divorce-related matters, such as:
~Prenuptial agreements
~Collaborative divorce
~Child custody
~Child support/college support
~Paternity issues
~Alimony/spousal maintenance
~Parenting time
~Division of marital assets
~Post-divorce modifications

~Consumer Fraud - We are experienced in handling a variety of consumer fraud cases. Throughout our years of practice, we have provided aggressive advocacy in hundreds of cases involving fraud perpetuated by: home improvement contractors, telemarketers, insurance companies and agents, financial advisors, retail establishments, etc.

Other speciality areas including but not limited to:

~Wills and estate planning

~Employment law

~Real Estate law

~Personal injury

~Business law

Schedule a consultation today.

If you are looking for experienced legal counsel in bankruptcy matters, family law, consumer fraud cases, or any of the many other practice areas we concentrate in, schedule your consultation with McDowell Posternock Apell & Detrick by filling out and submitting our contact form or calling us at (866) 879-8855 or (856) 861-3474.

Browns Mills
57 Juliustown Road
Browns Mills,
NJ
08015

Dan Posternock, Esq.

If you read the 1978 Wildwood High School yearbook, you will find that my aspiration was to become a lawyer. That goal shaped all of my future business and professional endeavors.

Four years later, in 1982, I earned a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Sociology-Criminal Justice, at Monmouth College, which is now Monmouth University. While attending to my college studies, I also honed leadership skills as a two-term President of a service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, and served as Secretary General to the Model United Nations. I then obtained a Juris Doctorate from Delaware Law School, now known as Widener University School of Law, in 1985. After that, I achieved partnerships with the former firms of Moss, Powers and Postemock (1987-1996), and Cureton, Caplan and Clark (1997-1998), before establishing the Law Offices of Daniel Posternock in 1998. Four years later, the firm of Barron & Posternock, LLP was formed. In June 2011, that firm merged with McDowell Riga, P.C. became known as McDowell Posternock Law, P.C. In September 2014, the firm merged with Apell & Detrick to be collectively known as McDowell Posternock Apell & Detrick, P.C.

I am honored to continue the tradition of excellence established by my valued mentors, including the Honorable E. Stephenson Fluharty and current Federal Judge Robert B. Kugler. I am admitted to the bars of the State of New Jersey and US District Court for the District of New Jersey and pride myself in being respected by my colleagues and in the courts where I regularly practice.

My extensive trial and litigation experience includes prosecuting and defending claims arising from real estate transactions, consumer fraud matters and actions brought against school boards under New Jerseys Tort Claims Act. I also regularly handle business disputes, home improvement claims as well as automobile negligence, and premises liability matters. In addition, I continue my more than twenty year history of counseling local business leaders.

As a resourceful advocate with focused resolve, I have come to embrace Alternative Dispute Resolve methods. I was certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey to mediate pending disputes more than a decade ago, and continue to be frequently chosen by my peers and the Court to arbitrate or mediate litigated matters.

Professional Affiliations

I am a current member of the New Jersey, Camden, and Burlington County Bar Associations and participant in the Burlington County Bars Complimentary Dispute Resolution/Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators, and National Arbitration and Mediation (NAM). I have also served on the Supreme Court of New Jerseys District Ethics Committee (District III-B), and remain a member of the Moorestown Township Committee on Ethics, the Burlington County Chamber of Commerce and the Moorestown Business Association, where I serve as the chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the Scholarship and Ethics Committees.

Community Activities

I firmly support volunteerism, a family tradition instilled in me by my parents. For over 13 years, I was a member and/or chairman of the Juvenile Conference Committee of Moorestown and Medford, a diversionary program for first-time juvenile offenders. I have been a member of the Risk Management Committee of the YMCA, as well as a former Trustee, coach and sponsor for the Moorestown Youth Baseball Federation and Moorestown Youth Softball Association. I have also coached local recreation teams in boys and girls basketball and co-ed flag football.

Originally from Cape May County, I live in Moorestown, Burlington County with my wife, Allison. We have two children, a son, Joshua, and a daughter, Mia.

License

Bar Number: 19391986
New Jersey , 1986

Education

Monmouth College now Monmouth University
Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Sociology-Criminal Justice
, 1982

Delaware Law School now Widener University School of Law
Juris Doctorate
, 1985

Ellen M. McDowell, Esq.

I am a shareholder and founding member of McDowell Posternock Apell & Detrick, P.C. My practice consists of representing debtors and creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, commercial and consumer litigation, wills, trusts and estates, real estate and land use. I am admitted to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including federal courts in the District Court of New Jersey, the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

I graduated from Rutgers University Law School Camden cum laude with a Tax Honors Certificate in 1988. I began my career in the banking and bankruptcy group at Drinker Biddle & Reath in Philadelphia.

I have lectured on banktuptcy for the New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the Camden County Bar Association. I have written articles on bankruptcy law for the Legal Intelligencer and The Barrister and contributed to the Pennsylvania Bar Institutes Mortgage Foreclosure treatise for several years. I am a member of the New Jersey Bar Association and the Burlington and Camden County Bar Associations. I have served as a trustee of the Camden County Bar Association since 2009 and am a member of the Lawyers Advisory Committee for the Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

Additional Interests and Achievements

I am also the President of Main Street Maple Shade, Inc., an organization dedicated to the revitalization of Maple Shade, New Jersey under the National Historic Trust for Historic Preservations Main Street program. I am a former President of the Maple Shade Business Association and the Maple Shade Rotary Club. I am currently a member of those associations, as well as the Maple Shade Advisory Board of Commerce.

Education

Rutgers University Law School
Juris Doctorate
, 1988
cum laude with a Tax Honors Certificate

Melanie M. Levan, Esq.

My primary practice areas are business collections, estate planning and administration, and land use/zoning, with additional focus on commercial and residential real estate.

I have been trained as a mediator, and use that training to efficiently resolve disputes on behalf of my clients. My philosophy in practicing law is to treat all parties with respect and fairness.

I am an alumnus of Rutgers University and Rutgers School of Law-Newark. While in law school, I served as Co-Editor in Chief of the Womens Rights Law Reporter. After law school, I served as law clerk to the Honorable Judith A. Yaskin before moving into private practice. I am admitted to the bars of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the District of New Jersey and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Moorestown has been my home since 1999. I am active in the Moorestown community, participating in the Moorestown Home and School Association, and, in 2011, I co-founded MooreKids, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide support to low income children in Moorestown. In my spare time, I teach yoga at Yoga Path Studio in downtown Moorestown.

Diana R. Sever, Esq

I was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and have lived in the South Jersey area, since 1975; first in Cherry Hill and now in Moorestown with my husband and three active boys. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from the University of Delaware with a dual Bachelors of Arts degrees in Criminal Justice and Foreign Languages and Literature. While at the University of Delaware, I eagerly participated in the University Honors Program, served on the Judicial Appellate Court and was a Rhodes Scholar candidate.

While at Villanova University School of Law, I served as Editor of Outside Works for the Villanova Sports and Entertainment Law Journal and graduated in the top 20 percent of the 1994 class. Thereafter, I served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Ronald E. Bookbinder, the current Presiding Chancery Judge in Burlington County.

As a

Carrie Boyle

I am an associate attorney at McDowell Posternock Apell & Detrick. I concentrate my practice in Bankruptcy, debt management, and asset retention/liquidation matters both in and out of court.

I am a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Wilmington and a 2008 graduate of Rutgers University School of Law, Camden, NJ. While I was in law school, I maintained full-time employment with the Pennsylvania real estate developer the Goldenberg Group and was active in the Rutgers Law Pro Bono Bankruptcy Project, which Project I now serve on the steering committee as a local Bankruptcy attorney. I am admitted in the District of New Jersey and Eastern District of Pennsylvania. I am currently a member of the Lawyers Advisory Committee for the Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

I enjoy my work representing both Debtors and Creditors in Bankruptcy actions, in Bankruptcy Chapters 7, 11 and 13. Additionally, I plan and participate in seminars through the state and local bar associations presenting topics concerning the current foreclosure crisis and Bankruptcy practice.

I enjoy playing the violin in my time-off and was a member of the symphony orchestra in Wilmington, NC. I enjoy reading for fun, but also to remain current on hot-topics being decided in the courts and in the government.

Erwin D. Apell, Esq.

After serving in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1964, Erwin D. Apell then established his law firm in Wrightstown, NJ. He later created a partnership with the late Dayton G. Hopkins, Esq. The new firm, named Hopkins, Apell and Forman, opened a second office in New Egypt, NJ.

In 1989, Mr. Apell welcomed a new partner to the practice, Paul C. Detrick, Esquire and subsequently his son Jeff. Until his firm merged with McDowell Posternock Law in September of 2014, Mr. Apell served as his firm's president. Apell & Detrick P.C. has long represented clients in a wide range of legal matters including real estate, estate planning, family law, personal injury accident cases and bankruptcy.

Mr. Apell was admitted to the NJ Bar in 1961, after graduating that year from the Case West Reserve School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio. He received his undergraduate degree from Widener University in Chester, Pa. in 1958.

Legal Practice:

Real Property

Probate

Trust Law

Municipal Law

Memberships:

American Bar Association

New Jersey Bar Association - NJBA Board of Consultors of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section former Chairman and

Mr. Apell serves as a member of the Board of Consultors of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section and is a former Chairman of that section.

Mr. Apell lectures, writes and is frequently quoted on topics relating to real estate and planning. He has also been featured on television as an expert on wills. He has also been retained as an expert witness in many court cases.

Jeffrey D. Apell, Esq.

After graduating from the Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, Pa., Jeffrey S. Apell served as a law clerk for the Hon. Victor Friedman, Judge of the Superior Court in Burlington County, NJ. Following his clerkship, Mr. Apell joined his father's firm, Apell and Detrick in Browns Mills, as an associate. He later became a partner in the firm.

He earned his undergraduate degree in 1989 from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. In 1992, Mr. Apell was admitted to the Bar in the State of New Jersey in 1992. Mr. Apell, his wife and three sons live in Southern New Jersey.

Legal Practice:

Real estate

Probate litigation

Estate planning

Municipal court

Land use law

Memberships:

New Jersey Bar Association

o NJBA Board of Consultors of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section Member

Paul C. Detrick, Esq.

Paul C. Detrick joined the firm of Apell and Mathews in 1986 and became a partner of the firm, renamed Apell and Detrick P.C. in 1989. He served as vice president of the firm. In September of 2014, the firm joined with McDowell Posternock Law to form McDowell Posternock Apell & Detrick PC.

Mr. Detrick graduated from Rutgers School of Law Camden in 1980 and was admitted to the bars of New Jersey and of the United States District Court the same year. He has been representing South Jersey residents in a variety of legal matters for more than 25 years.

Mr. Detrick has lived in Burlington County, NJ all his life. He is passionate about the community and is actively involved in many civic and community organizations.

Legal Practice:

Family law and divorce

Personal bankruptcy

Planning and zoning

Municipal court matters

Real estate

Wills & estates

Memberships:

New Jersey Bar Association member

Burlington County Bar Associations member

Association of New Jersey Planning Officials member

Community Involvement:

Whitesbog Preservation Trust Treasurer

Southampton Township, Burlington County, NJ Past Solicitor for the Zoning Board of Adjustment 15 years

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